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Heroic World Cup Podium for Stiegler

by

USSA

2012-03-04 07:01

Resi Stiegler landed the first podium of her injury riddled career with second in the Ofterschwang slalom (Getty Images/Agence Zoom - Stanko Gruden)

OFTERSCHWANG, Germany (March 4) - Resi Stiegler (Jackson Hole, WY) celebrated a return to the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup elite with a second in the Ofterschwang slalom. It was the first podium of her injury-riddled career behind first time winner Erin Mielzynski of Canada. Stiegler suffered series of injuries starting in a 2007 crash and was eventually sidelined from the Vancouver Olympic Games. The podium signified a personal victory.

HIGHLIGHTS

Resi Stiegler (Jackson Hole, WY) produced the first World Cup podium of her career with slalom second in Ofterschwang.

Canadian Erin Mielzynski won for the first female Canadian slalom win since 1971

Nov. 28, 2010: Returned to World Cup and finished 25th in slalom at Aspen, CO.

Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) went out in the first run, but retained her 494 point overall lead as Slovenia's Tina Maze went out in final.

Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, CO) was third after the first run, but finished 27th after series of second run mistakes.

The women's tour moves to Are, Sweden next weekend for a giant slalom and slalom.

QUOTESResi StieglerThis is a huge breakthrough and I worked really hard for this. Results are difficult to get even if you are skiing really fast. I almost don't have words for how I feel.

I don’t know why it came together today and I think maybe it could have come together all year and I was just waiting for this one day.

This year was a crazy year. Never in my life did I ever want to just throw it in and I've had that feeling so many times this season. I think in the end I knew I worked so hard coming back from so many things I was just determined.

I was thinking, 'I have to do this and if it’s not going to happen, it's not going to happen, but I have to keep putting in the effort until its really done.' In my head I knew that no matter what this isn’t the end. You have a day like today and you are very happy that you didn’t give up on yourself.

I wasn’t coming back from winning World Cups, it was coming back from being top 10. To actually come back from all that and try to then be better was is what I realized I was doing. You come to understand that if you don’t put in 110 percent you are not going to make it.

I wanted to be on the podium consistently and physically you have to train harder and mentally you have to train harder and just push yourself past those limits.

Alex Hoedlmoser, Head CoachThe girls were going for it, they wanted to be on the podium, they wanted to win it. That is how we operate.

Super, super psyched for Resi [Stiegler]. This is so amazing for her and it's hard to put it into words actually. She was out for over two seasons completely. It's incredibly tough to come back and catch up to the speed of world class skiers. To get back to racing you have to learn how to race again.

To actually have two girls from the tech team on the podium is already a huge step. We want podiums, podiums, podiums.